ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's lacrosse team renews the oldest rivalry in college lacrosse when it visits Hobart on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. at Boswell Field. The contest will be broadcast on Hobart All-Access.

• Cornell and Hobart will face off for the 142nd time dating back to May 5, 1896 — no other rivalry has been played more than 126 times.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 9-47-4, but has been especially dominant over the past two decades with five straight wins and victories in 17 of the past 18 matchups dating back to 2004.
• The two teams rank sixth (Cornell, 810) and seventh (Hobart, 806) in all-time wins.
• Cornell is coming off a dominant 15-5 victory over No. 13/12 Denver in its home opener on Saturday.
• Cornell senior CJ Kirst, the nation's active leading scorer at 244 points, scored six goals and added two assists against the Pioneers to outscore the 13th-ranked team all by himself.
• Sophomore Ryan Goldstein assisted on five goals as part of a six-point day in directing an offense that scored 15 goals on 34 total shots.
• While the offense grabbed the headlines, it was the defense that made the difference, limiting the high-scoring Pioneers to five goals.
• Senior Jayson Singer caused a pair of turnovers and held Denver's leading scorer, Cody Malawski, off the scoresheet, while senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust posted 13 saves to claim his second win of the year.
• The Big Red, ranked third in the national polls entering week, will meet a 2-1 Hobart team that is humming offensively, averaging 14.3 goals per game.
• Head coach Connor Buczek's Big Red team returns eight starters and 22 letter winners from last season's 9-5 squad that won the Ivy League regular season title — its third straight and 32nd overall in program history.

GAME INFORMATION
#3/3 Cornell at Hobart
DATE & TIME: Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 5:00 p.m.
SITE: Boswell Field - Geneva, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-0 (0-0 Ivy); Hobart 2-1 (0-0 Atlantic 10)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 90-47-4
BROADCAST: Hobart All-Access
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
Overall: Cornell leads 90-47-4
In Geneva, N.Y.: Cornell leads 30-20-1    
On neutral fields: Cornell leads 4-0
Streak: Cornell, 5
Last 5: Cornell leads 5-0
Last 10: Cornell leads 9-1
Last meeting: Cornell 23, Hobart 7 (2/27/24 at Cornell)
Last Hobart win: Hobart 16, Cornell 8 (2/25/17 at Hobart)
First meeting: Hobart 2, Cornell 1 (5/5/1896 at Cornell)    

A WIN OVER HOBART WOULD ...
• make Cornell 3-0 for the third time in four seasons under head coach Connor Buczek.
• extend its lead in the all-time series over the Statesmen to 91-47-4.
• push its win streak in the series to six games.
• improve Cornell's record to 109-52-4 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10.
• be the third consecutive road win for the Big Red.
• make the Big Red 10-1 in the month of February under Buczek.
• push Buczek's career record to 37-14 (.725).
• be the 811th in program history (810-501-27, .615).

VS. THE ATLANTIC 10
• Cornell sports a 108-52-4 (.671) all-time record against current members of the Atlantic 10.
• The Big Red has won seven consecutive contests against current Atlantic 10 members dating back to a 17-8 loss at Hobart on Feb. 25, 2017.
• Cornell holds series advantages over Hobart (90-47-4) and UMass (16-5) and has won the only previous meeting with both High Point (1-0) and St. Bonaventure (1-0).
• The Big Red has never faced Richmond or Saint Joseph's.
• That will change this week as the Big Red will visit Richmond for the first time this coming Sunday.

LAST TIME VS. HOBART
• The Big Red posted its largest margin of victory in six years with a 23-7 victory over Hobart on Schoellkopf Field on Feb. 27, 2024.
• Cornell's attack was led by senior captain CJ Kirst, who notched a season-high five points on three goals and an assist. 
• Four Big Red players followed, each notching four points — Michael Long and Andrew Dalton got there with two goals and two assists. 
• For the second time in his career, Hugh Kelleher had a four-goal outing, and Willem Firth recorded his first three career assists and added a goal. 
• Angelo Petrakis had the best day at the faceoff for the Big Red, winning 9-of-15 battles. 
• Wyatt Knust made 10 saves in 45 minutes of action, allowing just five goals.
• David Peterkin led the Hobart offense with three goals for three points, followed by Chris Patterson, who tallied twice. 
• Adam Shea and Mike Valent split time at the faceoff X, combining to win 18-of-33 attempts.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior CJ Kirst enters the contest with 177 career goals, 14 shy of reaching Mike French '76 (191), a record that has stood for 48 years.
• Kirst is three assists shy of joining the top 10 all-time in assists (67), with Matt Donovan '15 next on the list. 
• With his next man-up goal, Kirst would reach 15th on the school's career list with 13 and is two away from jumping to 13th place.
• Senior Michael Long is three goals short of surpassing former Tewaaraton Trophy winner Max Seibald '09 for 20th on the school's career list.
• At seventh place in career assists, Long is nine from matching Andrew Collins '04 for sixth with 98.
• Long is two points from reaching eighth in career points (Ryan Hurley '10 with 179).
• Junior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust has 186 career saves, 15 shy of reaching jumping into 18th place at Cornell.
• His next win in goal would give him 11, moving him within three of jumping to 16th on the school's list.
• Kelleher is nine points from reaching 100 for his career.

LAST TIME OUT
• Cornell jumped out to a 10-1 halftime lead and never took its foot off the gas, blitzing 13th-ranked Denver 15-5 at Schoellkopf Field. 
• CJ Kirst buried the visitors with a six-goal, two-assist day in an otherwise balanced offensive attack. 
• Ryan Goldstein spread the ball around, assisting on five goals and scoring one of his own as the Big Red had eight different players find the back of the net. 
• It was the defense that made all the difference, as Jayson Singer and crew held Denver's leading scorer, Cody Malawski, off the scoresheet. 
• The numbers were far more even than the score, as the Pioneers held a narrow edge in shots (40-34) and face-offs (12-10), but the Big Red seemingly won every key ground balls and got 13 big saves from Wyatt Knust in goal. 
• Jack Cascadden was 9-for-19 at face-offs, but won three back on caused turnovers, scooped up five ground balls and scored himself in a strong effort.
• Andrew Atchison had a goal and two assists to lead the Denver offense, while Chris Caldwell caused a pair of turnovers and registered four ground balls.


NOTES TO KNOW
• Senior CJ Kirst is the nation's active leader in career goals (177) and points (244), well ahead of Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (131) and VMI's Luke Rusterucci (196), respectively.
• Both Kirst (second, 4.86) and senior Michael Long (sixth, 4.12) rank among the nation's active leaders in career points per game.
• Sophomore Willem Firth (.750) and Kirst (.733) rank 1-2 in the nation in highest shooting percentage entering the week.
• In his last three contests dating back to last year, junior Jack Cascadden is 47-of-72 on faceoffs (.653) with 21 ground balls and three caused turnovers.
• Since regaining his starting spot last April, senior Wyatt Knust has 119 saves (14.9 saves per game) with a 9.42 goals against average and a .626 save percentage in his past eight contests.
• Cornell is 19-5 (.792) at home under head coach Connor Buczek.

PRESEASON HONORS
• Senior attackman CJ Kirst is the USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason Player of the Year and Attackman of the Year.
• Kirst, senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher and senior attackmen Michael Long have been selected to the 2025 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List.
• Kirst was also chosen as a USA Lacrosse, USILA and Inside Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason All-America first team selection. 
• Kirst was chosen as college lacrosse's top player by Inside Lacrosse in its IL Top 50, while Long was slotted No. 19.
• Long was a third-team All-America choice by both USILA and Inside Lacrosse.
• Sophomore midfielder Willem Firth, senior defender Jayson Singer and senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust were honorable mention selections by USILA, while Inside Lacrosse honored Firth, senior midfielder Hugh Kelleher and senior short-stick midfielder Chris Davis.

THE HARD HAT
• Charlie Box was selected to carry the Hard Hat for the 2025 season. 
• Sixth-year senior Michael Long (2023) and fifth-year senior CJ Kirst (2024) have also carried the Hard Hat during their careers.
• The tradition of the Hard Hat began in the fall of 1999. 
• Midway through the fall season, a player is selected to carry the Hard Hat for the year. 
• The recipient is someone that the coaches feel demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game of lacrosse; he is driven and selfless, not the most talented player on the field, but consistently the hardest worker. He puts the team first, and embodies • how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on or off the field.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
• Cornell has traditionally been very successful against collegiate teams from New York state, posting an all-time record of 304-168-7 (.642).
• The Big Red has three New York teams on its schedule during the 2025 season – Hobart, UAlbany and Syracuse.
• Cornell is 16-2 over its past 18 contests against New York state teams dating back to 2018, including 4-1 vs. Syracuse, and owns a five-game win streak against teams from the Empire State.

PROFESSIONAL NOTES
• Jeff Teat '21 broke the single-season Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) scoring record with 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists), shattering the previous mark of 44 by Lyle Thompson (2022) and matched by Marcus Holman (2023).
• Professional lacrosse's all-time single-season leading point scorer is Rob Pannell '13. The former Big Red player set the record in the 2018 season of the Major League Lacrosse (MLL), putting away 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points.
• Chayse Ierlan '23 became the fourth Big Red player taken in the PLL Draft after the goalkeeper was chosen No. 29 overall by the California Redwoods last May. He joins Gavin Adler '24, Jeff Teat '21 and Clarke Petterson '19. Teat was the No. 1 overall pick in 2021 and Adler went No. 1 in 2023.
• Since 2002, Cornell has had 38 players chosen in the MLL/PLL Draft.

HALLS OF FAME
• One of the most successful lacrosse coaches of all time, Nevin D. "Ned" Harkness was announced as one of four coaches making up the 2024 class of inductees to the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLAC) Hall of Fame. 
• Another Cornell name to be inducted into this class is Big Red alumnus Howie Borkan '81, who is the "Bob Russell Contributors Award" recipient.
• Additionally, Texas A&M coach Tony Scazzero '75, who was the longest tenured coach in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association before retiring last spring, was inducted into the MCLA Hall of Fame.
• Jason Noble '13 was inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame this past fall. 
• The three-time All-America selection (first-team in 2013, second-team in 2012, honorable mention in 2011) was also a two-time first-team All-Ivy pick and anchored of one of the nation's top defenses. 
• He later was named the 2017 NLL Defensive Player of the Year in leading the Georgia Swarm to the league title.

IVY PRESEASON POLL
• The Big Red was chosen first in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll announced in February.
• Cornell finished first with nine of the 14 first-place votes and a total of 90 points, just ahead of Princeton (87 points, four first-place votes).
• Yale (71 points, one first-place vote) and Penn (57 points) rounded out the top four.

NEXT UP
• Cornell will face its second consecutive Big East squad when it visits Richmond for the first time on Sunday, March 2 at 1 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• It will be the first-ever meeting against the Spiders.
• Cornell will make its first trip to Virginia since a thrilling 15-14 defeat to UVa on March 7, 2015. The Big Red scored five goals in the final 2:32 before running out of time.